TOM SCARRITT: Gravy train for lawyers must end

I have nothing against lawyers. My grandfather was a lawyer, as was his father. I married into a family of lawyers. I have dear friends who are lawyers.

However, I believe we must find some way to stop the conveyor belt the Legislature has created to move money from the pockets of Jefferson County citizens into the bank accounts of lawyers. Times are tough; we should not add to the burden on taxpayers and sewer customers by making them subsidize the practice of law in this county.

The latest reminder of the lavish gifts the Legislature has given the bar comes with the occupational tax refund checks we are receiving. Line 4 of the accompanying "Explanation of Payment" notes that about 30 percent of the refund is going to attorney fees, costs and "class representative incentive awards."

Remember, this litigation is purely the result of legislative greed and incompetence. It started when legislators repealed the existing occupational tax as a ploy to force the Jefferson County Commission to give over some of the money for legislators' pet projects. That was greed.

When a court later ruled that bit of bluster was in fact law, legislators reluctantly tried to undo the damage. They reinstated a tax, but they failed to follow the proper procedure. That was incompetence.

The results have been successful legal challenges that have beggared the county, slashed public services and made some lawyers quite wealthy. Not just the plaintiffs' lawyers, mind you. We paid for the failed defense of the tax, as well, although that amount does not show up with our checks.

We are receiving some small refunds, but we are paying for them with long lines at the courthouse, closed satellite courthouses, crumbling roads, fewer deputies in the field, and an overcrowded jail that is inviting more lawsuits.

Now the Legislature has an opportunity to make a lot more lawyers richer. If it fails to act on measures to resolve Jefferson County's sewer debt and to shore up its operating budget, the cash registers will start to ring in bankruptcy lawyers' offices.

You and I will be paying those bills, too.

We have invested millions in legal fees to get to the proposed settlement of the sewer debt. All of that will be wasted if the Legislature does not give the county the tools to complete the deal.

Every day the county's money crisis drags on is another payday for the lawyers at the expense of taxpayers and sewer customers. Commission President David Carrington has said the outside legal and professional fees for Chapter 9 litigation will be at least $1 million a month.

The Legislature did not create the sewer debt. Corrupt and incompetent former county leaders did. But the Legislature holds the key to solving both the sewer mess and the county funding crisis it did create.

Let's urge our legislators to stop playing Santa Claus to the lawyers, and act instead in the interests of those who pay the bills.